As it looks as if the Arthington Festival is coming to a damp and dismal end I can perhaps look back on some of the memorable moments of 127 days of cricket watching this summer. It was all a bit of an anti-climax last weekend when visitors King James' of Bishop Auckland called off early in the week due to that bane of cricket clubs everywhere - 'a stag do'.
So last Sunday we saw Arthington play a Stephanie Hewitt Memorial XI in memory of a young lady who unfortunately died at an early age. It got distinctly cooler as the afternoon progressed with nothing very special to report and we decided to leave between innings with the hope of more cricket to come this weekend but the weather had the final word.
Arthington scored a very reasonable 220-7 with a few batsman reaching 30 but no further. Andrew Stoddart, bowling in his cap, had an impressive economical bowling performance with figures of
8-3-19-1, but the afternoon felt something like going through the motions in front of the hardy band of spectators.
In reply the visitors rather fell apart after being 14-3, despite a fine innings of 38 from Asif Iqbal (a famous name) they slumped to 106 all out. Wickets were equally shared with three for Tom Conboy, two for Andy Conboy and two from Adam Pothecary. However the magic moment arrived right at the end of proceedings when Pothecary junior (young Adam) got a wicket by having the last man, Richard Wright, stumped.
The season started somewhat late due to the wet weather in April and the first championship match was Durham v Kent at Riverside, when the New Zealand Henry got twelve wickets to give Kent an easy victory. Then there were lots of runs in the Leeds/Bradford University season at Weetwood.
May brought us eighteen consecutive days of cricket, ending with a long awaited return to Hartlepool, before setting off on a tour of the Midlands.
A few new grounds to add to the list, as we visited Kenilworth Wardens, Hagley, Himley, Barnt Green, Lutterworth and Edgbaston in wonderful weather. A few impressive displays by Yorkshire Ladies at Harrogate took us into June with another Durham victory, coming back from the dead against Derbyshire. Late June saw good days out at Belper Meadows and Sedbergh School (always a delight).
We were then off on another trip this time to Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire for league and Minor Counties cricket, making the most of the continuing sunshine. Into July with a memorable trip to the north east to see Yorkshire over 60s at Shotley Bridge and the over 50s at Darlington on successive days. Then a look at the talent of the future with England under 19s at both Scarborough and Riverside.
Late in July another Minor Counties game at Barrow, with lots of league cricket in Cumbria on the way there. Then it was into the Under 17s season, where Yorkshire excelled winning the trophy in the end with fine performances from skipper James Wharton. Throughout all this we were regularly watching the Yorkshire Academy on Saturdays where Wharton, George Hill and Tom Loten were consistently among the runs.
August brought more good performances from all Yorkshire's age group sides, only marred by the Yorkshire first eleven's dismal showing at Scarborough where Worcestershire really took them to the cleaners. They redeemed themselves somewhat in September by winning the Roses match at Headingley, but the highlight was really Durham's victory over Sussex when Chris Rushworth's bowling in both innings won them the match.
The Yorkshire Champions Trophy Final at Headingley proved to be a non-event, but then after a farewell to Paul Collingwood against Middlesex at Riverside, it was off to Arthington with five matches only due to the weather, but memorable as always.
So no more cricket to report on until Boxing Day at North Leeds, but John and I will try to find a few memorable moments from the past, or even some predictions for the future, to keep you entertained during the long winter months ahead.
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